A Crash Course

Wow... that's all I can say after finally finishing reading my copy of Canon EOS 7D For Dummies. For anyone who has trouble getting through that fat camera manual -- or should I say, tome -- that Canon sticks into the box of every new camera, this is what you need to do: get out to your closest bookshop ASAP and get the Dummies book for your model of camera. My father really had it figured out when he got me the book for Christmas this year (and subsequently got himself a new camera and the corresponding Dummies book).

You probably know how much I'm in love with my Canon DSLR (I'm sure I've rambled on and on about it numerous times), and as I take it out at least once a week for some shooting, I like to think I've gotten to know the thing pretty well. Well, the Dummies book proved me totally wrong (but in a very good way). In celebration of my camera's first birthday, but mostly thanks to our impending trip this week to photogenic New Zealand, I've learned that I can adjust the intensity of the flash, create my own custom menus of my favourite functions, extend my ISO to 12800 (seriously!) and set the autofocus track a bird as it flies around in my viewfinder. There are so many functions I really had no idea were in my camera... now I just have to make sure I remember them for the right photographic moment.

When I first got my 7D, the day before we headed off to Philly last August, I tried to read the Canon manual on the 12-hour bus ride, but in the end I got through enough to figure out how to turn off the flash (ugh, flash!) and pretty much used the "Creative Auto" setting through the whole trip -- not a terrible thing, as the camera still took stunning photos, but I knew I was missing something. I guess really the best thing about reading about my camera from a "dummies" perspective is that the author really just puts everything in context, so I actually understood what having different light metering modes means for me rather than just memorizing where in the menus I could change them. What a great thing this book has been!


And while we're on the topic of photography books, I also should recommend Scott Kelby's The Digital Photography Book Volumes 1, 2, and 3 for the great tips and tricks in there. I devoured those last year after they were recommended by another photo-nerd friend shortly after I got my camera (but only vaguely knew how to use it). It's more about techniques on how to get pro photos, and Scott's awesome for making it sound easy, and he's fun to read! So check those ones out too.

Now that my head's packed full of camera know-how, it's time to take it to "The Land of the Long White Cloud" -- we're off in two days and we're sooooo excited! Photos to come definitely. -D.

Squirrel Chasing

Where did September go? It was another speedy month, that's for sure. What we do know is that we love mild fall days like today... and couldn't resist taking a little time out to go squirrel watching in Trinity Bellwoods park. (The squirrels are so crazy in the fall!) Oh yeah, did I mention I'm madly in love with my new camera?

Squirrel fight!

Boats With Eyes

After spending the last few days in the Mekong Delta, snacking on coconut candy and rice pancakes, cruising through floating markets (where people buy and sell between boats), and absorbing the slow vibe and incredibly humid climate, we've become big fans of boats with eyes!

Local legend has it that back when the Mekong River was still full of giant crocodiles (no one could really tell us why the river isn't full of crocs anymore!), people would paint eyes on the bow of their boat to scare away the crocs-- ie. boat of people does not equal dinner!

Many boats today still have eyes in front, making some look kind of snively and some just plain goofy, kind of like the seashells with googly eyes glued on them in the Spongebob Squarepants movie...

A bit of context

Whoa there! For anyone who's checked out our Flickr photos lately-- don't worry, we're still in Melbourne. We've just been doing a bit of catching up with our uploads before we hit the road in November and go snap-happy again.

We've also just recently gotten our 8 or so rolls of film developed which we've been collecting since we left Canada. We often forget to use Dayle's SLR Olympus film camera, as it's a little heavy to carry around, but it's still taking wonderful photos (and has been since her Dad bought it in 1980!) Digital's great-- easy, instant, and you can fix your focusing/lighting errors right away. But we do miss that visual quality of film, and the anticipation of what may be in the prints envelope when picking them up from the camera shop! There have been a few surprises, including a very lewd humping-monkey picture we still aren't sure whether or not to post (is it porn??). Ahh, the joys of film...

So the film pics, which we've tried to label the best we can, span our travels from Thailand to Cambodia and back; from Far North Queensland to our side trip to Hong Kong; down through Sydney to Melbourne and most recently, chilly Tasmania.

The other photos are from late August to the present, random snaps of the goings-on in Melbourne, including:

- Culture Week at our ANZ: Apparently this is a huge event which happens in our office building in Richmond annually in September, and a good reason for office 'teams' to do something more fun than bank work. Each team is designated a country, decorates their area and eats lots of the national cuisine. At the time, Dayle's department was still insanely busy, so Indonesia got a bit neglected. Adrian's section did really well as Japan--there was origami, kimonos, flags, and even a Japanese prison camp encased in barbed-wire, yipe!-- and he even got recruited to wear a costume in the fashion parade. (They definitely have more fun!) This Culture Week thing is SO awesome it brought out the CEO of ANZ, who we've learned recently gets paid $9 millon a year (hopefully he does more than make appearances at costume parties for that kind of dough). Adrian got to shake his hand. Wowee!!

- Our apartment: The many stages of our little flowering balcony garden... and that pesky Huntsman spider which set up camp outside our apartment door for a few weeks. Thank god he's gone now!

-Visiting the Dandenongs: Our pics from when we took Daisy for a spin to visit the cool, rainforested mountains & William Ricketts Sanctuary just east of Melbourne.

- Exploring Melbourne: the many places to eat, drink, and relax in town; cute houses and cool window displays. There's still so much to look at here!
We hope you enjoy them...

We's famous Mama!

Among other greats who frequent this blog; Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, Keanu Reeves (the list is mighty). We happened to get an email from a corporate representative from 'Schmap' who loved our photos and wanted to know if they could use them on their interactive map. Naturally we said yes, and they used 2 of our photos here and here. Which makes me think about how we could land a job that looks for other peoples pictures on the web.